


Old Friends/New Feelings

by 13thSyndicate



Series: your hearts are tangled up [2]
Category: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Discussion of past character death, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I guess???, Past tifa/aerith/cloud love triangle, based on the idea that Tifa and Cloud are from canon FF7, multiple POVs, officially dubbing this pairing, second-person writing, taerith, this wasn't supposed to be as feelsy as it was, where did I go wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 01:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7200152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13thSyndicate/pseuds/13thSyndicate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moment Tifa saw her, she understood why he stayed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> A sequel/followup to "(More Than) Partners" with a new pairing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tifa understands now why Cloud stayed.

The moment you saw her, you understood why he stayed.

The long, brown hair, twisted into a tight rope braid, curls that framed a face both kind and elegant, a bright pink ribbon, all so achingly familiar that your heart twisted into knots the first time you glimpsed them from across a city street. Your heart, which had always been so hesitant about her - you can only imagine what he must feel, to be in a place where she is alive again.

She is here with you now, a bright spot in a world that brings you pain. He's been avoiding you - she confirms it, asks you why, but you can't really answer, not without explaining things that are too painful to speak aloud, too difficult to wrap your mind around. Your heart has always been bigger than your head, and you've always been better with problems you can punch.

She whispers and green light flows over you, familiar energy that soothes the pain and the icy assault on the core of you caused by the shadows' horrible claws, and you wish to the Planet that this were a problem you could punch. She tells you he's always been stubborn. Asks how you know him.

'We just don't know much about him,' she says, in that sad and wistful tone, and your heart twists again.

You tell her that the two of you are from the same world. That you grew up together in a place far away from cities and choking air. You tell her that he once struggled so hard to find himself. You tell her how much he lost, what Sephiroth took from him, couching it in terms that hide and obfuscate. You tell her she reminds you of that person, tell her how much she must mean to him. She laughs softly and tells you that she's not entirely sure you're right.

That's hard for you to believe. But you drop it. You've already said too much as it is - you'd say you're not sure why she's so easy to talk to, but honestly, that's a lie. She isn't just some doppelganger, a familiar face and a familiar name, she is that person who went from a rival to a friend in the short span of a few months, only to die while praying for the planet to live.

'You miss her,' she says, and you look up, only to meet green eyes that have always been far too perceptive, that pierce your heart in more ways than one. All you can do is nod, then swallow, looking away because suddenly old feelings, feelings that complicated the bitter old triangle even more when you first understood them, are cropping up again, and you don't know how to deal with them.

'She loved him.'

She gives you a small hug, as if she understands some small part of your feelings, before letting go. She tells you that she has hope that he's moved on now, and you fake a bright smile and tell her that you do too. But you still know why he stayed.

You still know why you will stay.

Neither of you can bear to lose Aerith again.


	2. New Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aerith is good at untangling knots

You watch her sob into your pillow, hovering, offering as much comfort as you can give, because you understand what it feels like to have a broken heart.

She'd run into you, blindly, tears in her eyes and an emotional cocktail of which shock and grief were only the two major components spelled out on her face for all the world to read. You took her home with you, for comfort, and care, and tea, and she collapsed onto your bed in a pile of tangled feelings. Now, you sit next to her, rubbing her shoulders, speaking to her softly in your best soothing tone, and hope that there's something you can do to mend this ache inside of her.

'I thought he was in love with _you_ ,' she cries, and you understand what - and who - she must have seen. You suspected, but now you know, and your heart goes out to the sobbing once-a-stranger who's taken over your bed. You continue to speak to her, continue to tell her painful truths in gentle words, because those are all you can offer her.

You tell her that they've been close ever since he came here - not close in a way others might see, perhaps; they'd been so similar that they'd fought at first, both prickly loners too used to guarding their hearts. You tell her that he seems happy now, that they both seem happy, happier than you've ever known them to be. She nods - she understands. She whispers that she's glad that he can smile again, the way he smiled at **_her_**.

 _ **Her**_. She doesn't often talk about _**her**_ , and when she does it's always in soft vagaries, carefully dancing around the truth. She isn't the type to be delicate, preferring honest words and honest actions, so you know that there is something there that she isn't ready to tell. You get those senses about people - you understand the ways that the heart twists and turns and winds around uncomfortable truths until they choke it half to death.

Untangling those knots - it's something you learned to be good at, with men like Squall "Leon" Leonhart, who keep their hearts in boxes, and girls like Yuffie Kisaragi, who lie so skillfully to themselves to keep from remembering anything is wrong, as your only company. But the untangling takes time, doesn't it - she'll tell you when she's ready to, whatever secrets she hides about **_her_**.

You've started to understand, though, that this mysterious _**her**_ , the one who died on a world far away, the one who 'looks like you', is more than just a lookalike... and was more than just a friend.

She starts to talk about _**her**_ , now, in big, choking sobs. 'A memory' and 'a ghost', and too many discomforts, fall from her lips like her teardrops to soak into the pillow. How she was okay, when she thought it was you that he was in love with, how she was alright with still losing to the 'same girl'. How she knew as soon as she saw you that her mission to bring him back was doomed to fail. Because he loved her. Because he felt like he let her die. You start to realize that Cloud isn't the only person who sees _**her**_ in you. How you could be the 'same girl' to someone from a world you've never seen, how you could be the twin existence to a dead woman who once spoke for a Planet, you don't think you can understand quite yet, but you file the thoughts into the back of your mind and continue to listen.

She tells you that they all felt that way. That she, too, felt like she let the other you die. She starts to talk about how he wasn't the only one who felt so empty, that they all felt her loss. So she was okay, if it was you that she was losing to. Because... because...

'Because he wasn't the only one who-'

Her words cut out, and your breath holds in your lungs, your mind supplying a hundred different endings for that sentence. One in particular leaping out and twisting around your heart.

She tries again.

'I wouldn't mind losing to someone that I-'

Stops again.

Your heart is pounding now. You can't force it to stay still, but suddenly you understand, wholly and fully. The picture is crystal clear now, what happened between three people, two you care about and one you have a connection to that even you can't explain, on a world you've never been to beneath the smog-choked light of a distant star.

Your hand finds hers, fumbling, and grips it tightly. She raises her head, surprised, her face tearstained, red-brown eyes searching yours, wordlessly looking for answers to what have to be as many questions as are racing through your own mind.

You pull her close. For a moment, you sit there in silence, and then the floodgates open again. Her arms are wrapped around you, her hands gripping the back of your dress as she sobs and screams into your shoulder.

This time, when you whisper words of soothing comfort, they're in her ear as you lean your head gently against hers, this time your hand strokes her hair.

You sit there together, both tangled up together, but that's the best way. You promise yourself that you'll untangle all of these knots - all the better to find the threads that have somehow, inexplicably, bound her to you.

'You loved her too,' you say softly to her and let your eyes slip closed. She nods into your shoulder and you feel a pain for a woman you never knew, some strange otherworld branch of yourself.

'Don't worry,' you say. 'I promise, I won't go anywhere this time.'


End file.
